What A Year

It has been a year of change, around the world, where I work, in my family, and personally. I am not sure anyone was prepared for the political climate that occurred this year. Our stance as a nation has swung significantly in the last 12 months. I fell asleep the night of the presidential election in a hotel room with the TV on and woke up at 2:30 in the morning and the world had changed. It didn't stop there though. A bizarre event would occur and would be all over the news; before we could wrap our minds around it, another bizarre event would occur, then another and another, coming at us faster and faster, battering the nation with a Category 5 hurricane-like weirdness that left us hunkering down, clinging to our sanity, no longer certain what was real.

In the midst of all the bizarre things that occurred this year, there were good things too. ​We have seen many technological advancements that will assist us as a society for years to come. Artificial Intelligence, Augmented/Virtual Reality, 3D printing, the availability of inexpensive solar cells, and even self driving vehicles made this spotlight this year. If I had to point to one person's influence of much of this, it would have to be Elon Musk. His goals for his companies Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity revolves around his vision to change the world and humanity.

A highlight of this year for me personally, our team, and the district would be telling our story. We have done an incredible job of documenting this journey. One event that I would like to highlight was our participation at ISTE this last summer. It was clear that through the amount of presentations and being a big part of Microsoft's Hack the Classroom event at ISTE, we have made progress that others see value in. I use this as a dipstick to measure our effectiveness as a team and later I highlight how I use my kids as a measurement of our student experience.

​With ISTE behind us, it's fun to reflect on the event that it was. You knew it was going to be big when Richard Culatta shared that registrations for ISTE had reached over 21,000. ISTE...

In the next three segments, I will focus on district, family, and personal reflections over the past year. Each has their own challenges, advancements, and opportunities.

Our Growth As a District

Our $421 million dollar bond issue in November of 2014 has provided many resources that Omaha Public Schools needed. Before that, there wasn't a bond issue for over 15 years. The needs assessment that was completed before the bond showed $1.2 billion in needs. As much as this first bond issue is allowing us to build and provide, (Belle Ryan and Western Hills elementary schools slated to open in a couple of weeks, for instance) there is so much more that needs to be done. The next bond in May of 2018 will help address the space needs at our secondary schools.

2017 has been a year of transition as far as leadership. Mr. Evans decided to stay one more year after a turbulent Superintendent search process with the board. I must say it was good to spend one more year with Mr Evans, this being our 13th year working together. Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Kehrberg retired at the end of the 2016-17 season creating a vacancy that was replaced with Chief Academic Officer, Melissa Comine. We also brought on a couple of new Executive Directors of School Supports. All of these are good transitions, but transitions are challenging and require time.

From a technology standpoint, we have made efforts towards planned obsolescence of devices. In 2017, we experienced budget constraints that made us adjust the frequency by which we refresh devices. One thing the refresh process has done is show how necessary digital equity and access is for all of our students. In the future, we will make decisions differently as a district through the progression to digital equity through the strategic plan. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish with digital curriculum and open educational resources that provide unique learning experiences through technology. Personalized learning is the way to go. Our students should be picking their unique pathway in opportunities that aren't even thought of yet. For more information on our unique process for devices, click the image below for the blog post on planned obsolescence.

Anytime you are shifting focus with student learning, you need to incorporate parents and community. Digital citizenship and literacy was a major focus in Omaha Public Schools in 2017. We certified over 50 schools with Common Sense Media Certification to receive the district level certification. This was not all though. We also implemented the Mobile Learning Unit, a vehicle that provides programming to students, parents, and community through a partnership with Cox Communications. What was once a 1991 bus has now transformed into a highly engaging learning environment.

Our relationship with Microsoft has continued to progress. These strategic relationships have been beneficial for our students. We are able to give authentic feedback in what the learning experience students should receive in a high technology environment. Communication is different, as well, in today's working environment. We should reflect this shift in education as well. Our team uses Microsoft Teams everyday. This article discusses how Omaha Public Schools and Microsoft are working together to bring this collaboration shift in using Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is poised to empower students, educators and staff virtually everywhere, with new features rolling out across 181 markets and in 25 different languages. The latest experiences in Microsoft Teams , the digital hub for teachers and students in Office 365 for Education, are designed to help schools achieve more together: by fostering deeply engaged classrooms, strengthening professional learning communities, and tailoring more effective school communication.

One of the fundamental areas that needed to be addressed when Mr. Evans became Superintendent was looking at our processes. The district had a tendency to on-board a system and not continuously update it. You can see that now with our PeopleSoft upgrade that started this year. The district had not completed an upgrade of that system in over 12 years. The world has changed in 12 years. Think about what wasn't here 12 years ago in technology:

There was no iPhone or iPad

Social Media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

Facebook was still only available for college students

Mobile apps and the abundance of software wasn't readily available

The technology around website design wasn't incorporating features such as material design and evolving to your view according to the device you are utilizing

With all of these things in mind, it is important to consider what we face by constantly updating our systems. Think about it, all of our social media mediums update without training us, many times even without informing us beforehand. We use them frequently enough that our own digital literacy skills improve naturally. The same needs to be done with our "systems" we utilize in our districts. This includes pedagogy.

These "systems" are what drives cultural change. Systems create behaviors and this is important in an district because, as I say sometimes, districts do what they're organized to do. To bring about actual change within an district, Superintendents or other leaders, before they cast big vision and before they announce a change, must sit down and look at systems and ask the question, "What are the behaviors that need to change in order to move in the direction we need to move?" In my past work with the BLEgroup, Gates Foundation, and GreyED Solutions working on tech audits or strategic planning, it became evident that these are the fundamental things that drive necessary change. So, simply talking and casting vision doesn't change the direction of a district. Systems create behaviors because districts do what they're organized to do.

I am excited to see where we go in 2018 with teaching and learning in Omaha Public Schools! With the shifting of leadership, continued adoption of systems that produce efficiency and great staff in every facet of Omaha Public Schools, we are better - you can see it. Check out our transformation page for what our district has done through the use of technology.

My Family's Growth

I have always measured my effectiveness as an educational leader through my kids. It's an easy mechanism since I see them everyday. At some points in life I have had one in every level at the same time: Elementary, Middle and High School. Every night I would listen to them and gather their experiences. During the last two years, this dynamic is changing. Now Emily is a Sophmore in college, Aiyana is a senior at Omaha Central High School, and Bailey has joined her as a Freshman. From a parent perspective, the light is at the end of the tunnel. I am going to have to figure out a way to measure my effectiveness differently.

In 2017, we took a much needed vacation to Colorado. The kids had a blast, and Amanda and I did too. It was one of those moments where you begin thinking this could be the last one we do as a family with our kids graduating and moving on. Amanda and I love to hike. Colorado was just the place to engage with the whole family and climb a couple of mountains, see waterfalls, and see some old friends that moved out that way. Amanda and I also took some time and rode up to a lake with our bikes and saw some wildlife. From there I mounted my GoPro and coasted down the mountain, it was the best adrenaline rush of the trip.

My Growth

Where to start. 2017 showed me how much I love to learn. I read 12 books this year - yes 12. It wasn't just reading either. Many times it was a group effort with a lot of collaboration. Creating "quotures" - yes we made that up - and posting them to twitter after a chapter. We participated in #1ChapterADay activities, taking notes and using OneNote to document the journey. I have to give a mad shout out to Eileen Heller - she has kept up with me all along the way. You can check out her blog here. We also blogged about a couple of books. Check out this one Eileen Heller, Rebecca Chambers, and I did on Learning Transformed.

This activity of blogging has been transformative. This will be my 53rd blog post this year. I started blogging January 2017 with the thought I would use this mechanism to reflect on my journey so far. It has increased my writing ability and served as a reminder of the importance of taking a second every so often to reflect and document - thoughts, views, processes that occur personally, in my family, and with our district.

What's In Store For 2018?

A new Superintendent,new Board of Education Officers, and budget conversations will start in January of 2018. The Instructional Technology Team did an incredible job of applying for a Title IV grant that was awarded to us that will help drive Future Ready and a new Professional Development System in the district this spring. 2018 will again be a year of change, around the world, where I work, in my family, and personally. ​

Published on Kobe Bryant recently shared an all-time great mindset, manifested into a subtle quote that not many people noticed. It's been three weeks and I can't get it out of my head, so I wanted to share. You can take it literally or (mostly) metaphorically - both work and can be applied to the dream you're chasing.

21st Century Skills needed to succeed

These skills are so very critical:

Adaptive Thinking - kids have to be ready for an environment and jobs that haven't been created yet

Communication Skills - the world is getting flatter

Collaboration Skills - job environments are increasingly becoming flexible and technology is the glue that allows it to happen

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills - probably the in the top 3 most important

Personal Management

Inquiry Skills

Technology Skills - I see this as an non negotiable

Creativity and Innovation - we are entering a phase where we are creators with technology - makers if you will

Soft Skills

Empathy and Perspective - I call this the "Keegan" effect. Empathy is so important. Personalized learning puts incredible weight on the ability to provide empathy.

This is the first of three posts that I am writing in an attempt to inspire more discussion around the following question: How do we prepare students to be successful in their futures? Determining an answer to this question, is a discussion that I believe needs to include students, instructors, parents, businesses and community members.

Communication

I heard Andy Stanley talk about clarity in one of his speeches and its importance. Communication is critical in leadership and in the day to day operations of a district, school, or classroom. Five things leaders can do to ensure that their organization's vision really sticks:

State it simply.

Cast it convincingly.

Repeat it regularly.

Celebrate it systematically.

Embrace it personally.

Most of these involve some form of communication. The article below sparked my reflection on how I communicate as well as how we could change our communication strategy as a district.

This is what stuck out: Two words: don't assume. Take the time to think about your audience--what they know, what they care about, and what they want from you. ​

How hard can communication be? If you're reasonably intelligent and articulate, it shouldn't be that difficult to deliver a message so that audience members understand what you're trying to say. But the truth is that we often get in our own way when it comes to communication.

The Future Workforce

You can either be scared of this information or embrace it.From the article:History can help soothe some concerns, when we see that in 1900, 41% of the US workforce worked in farming. By 2000, that had sunk to just 2%, mostly as a result of the arrival of machines. While the developed world has shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services, the number of jobs has always climbed.

That is quite a significant difference in just a 100 years. So how are we preparing students for a changing work environment like this?

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - The world is going through a seismic shift in the make-up of its workforce and the boss of the world's largest staffing firm told Business Insider that the only way to stay employed is to constantly learn.

EdLeadership

Here is an article with some amazing quotes to start your day. I have included some that resonate with me:

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”

“Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”

Eckhart Tolle is a famous spiritual teacher promoting mindfulness and living in the now. His teachings often contradict what we are taught in the west. So many of us believe that we must work towards a future goal and happiness will only come if we reach it.

A Different View of How Schools Could Operate

Summit Schools are interesting. The base-camp model is one that focuses on mastery and begins to develop into competency based education. Truly if we could remove grade levels and move into that direction in public education, it might be for the better. You can really see the effects that personalized learning can bring - as well as understand that you are meeting students where they are at, not by the average. Only time will tell how this model prepares students for a job market that is unpredictable.
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On lengths of yarn stretched between chairs, sixth-grade math students were placing small yellow squares of paper, making number lines-including everything from fractions to negative decimals-in a classroom at Walsh Middle School. Working in teams one recent morning, they paper-clipped the squares along the yarn like little pieces of mathematical laundry.

EdTech Resources

If you know me, you do know that I do love to tinker around with gadgets. This next article encourages us to tinker with some inexpensive open sourced materials to build things. Cool things. I am going to encourage some of our educators to do this.
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Maybe you picked up a Raspberry Pi for the holidays, or you've been sitting on one of the super versatile, palm-sized computers for a while now. If you've been wondering how to get started with yours, or what you could build that's worthwhile, here are ten great ideas.

EdLeadership

by: Jeremiah Owyang
Content that sparked my interest:

A clear, shared vision - this reminded me of what Eric Sheninger discussed in UnCommon Learning:

​"A shared vision relies on shared leadership."

"Set clear parameters to create balanced power and establish leadership as a partnership. Engage all stakeholders in working together toward a shared purpose. Ensure all participants share responsibility and accountability. Recognize and embrace diverse perspectives in the group. Teach and value inner strength in all participants in shared leadership."

Enablement to get the task done - again - reminded me of UnCommon Learning statements:

​"When one begins to think about the change process, the foundational step always seems to be the role of a leader. I was always under the impression that it was the leader who was the actual change agent, but my experiences helping schools implement an array of initiatives to improve school culture have taught me otherwise. A leader’s main role is to create an environment that fosters change."

Photo "Sailing Ship" by Gideonc, used under creative commons license. These traits certainly don't comprise a complete list of what makes leaders effective, but, just as certainly, they are common - perhaps uncommonly common - among effective leaders.

Productivity

by: Chris Danilo
Content that sparked my interest:

Really this article is about reflection

When was the last time you looked back and asked yourself:

What is going well?

What isn’t going well?

What’s in my control, that I can do to sway the odds in my favor?

What frequency do we refect?

I really think it depends on what purpose we are reflecting on

The 11 rules to start from

Good stuff - especially evidence (Eileen - Evidence of Success)

I think questioning my narrative is pretty important, especially for me. That will help me stay grounded in purpose.

Also: Make time for play, because the journey is more important than the destination - totally true. If you don't have fun at what you do and make time for it, before long you will wonder what your career did and what was it's purpose.

It's those who ask this question and follow through with action that live happy, healthy, productive lives. Pay attention! By the end of this post, you're going to have to make a choice. Most people click on posts like this because they want "to be happy." But have we defined this?

Love the idea of Learning Networks - it fits the model of life long learners for our teachers and students

I really believe we have begun some foundational works with our OPS staff that if expanded correctly, we could become a platform network for other mid-west urban districts

I do think we could expand our pathways like Project Lead the Way at North High into other micro credential areas of the district. One would be to make micro credentials for coding and have it at every secondary school

Dan Leeser enjoys the creative work of designing his own projects. In the fall, his students at Franklin Cougar New Tech in El Paso created graphic novels that combined Greek myths with Asian culture-an interesting thought experiment that encouraged students to consider the role of myth in society in the past and the present.

Achievement rarely produces the sense of lasting happiness that you think it will. Once you finally accomplish the goal you've been chasing, two new goals tend to pop up unexpectedly. We long for new achievements because we quickly habituate to what we've already accomplished.

​Here is what struck me:
The researchers found that people who were both successful and happy over the long term intentionally structured their activities around four major needs:

Happiness: They pursued activities that produced pleasure and satisfaction.

Achievement: They pursued activities that got tangible results.

Significance: They pursued activities that made a positive impact on the people who matter most.

Legacy: They pursued activities through which they could pass their values and knowledge on to others.

Guiding vision, passion, and integrity are well known leadership traits. But there are lesser known leadership traits, as well-in fact, some historically have been perceived as weaknesses. These hidden traits can be developed and nurtured to help further your career and your role as a leader, at work, in your community, or in life in general.

Digital Footprint:

Who are you? Who would you like to be?

What would you do if one of these social networks deleted or moved the posts and content you shared?

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut Web literate individuals have a multitude of opportunities to utilize digital spaces and tools to create versions of our identities. We can create and host our own websites to share and archive our work.

Professional Development:

Develop and communicate a clear, cohesive vision of personalized learning

Through the Race to the Top - District (RTT-D) program, the U.S. Department of Education invested in innovative approaches to personalized learning. Sixty-eight school districts, district consortia, and charter school networks adopted personalized learning approaches that called for a system-wide transformation that drove changes in all areas of district operation, including the human capital decisions that underpin a systemic change of this magnitude.

Here are the articles today that brought some value to my thoughts:Creativity:

Creation is a process and it gets better with time and iteration. The most creative among us have mastered their crafts. They have developed their skills over a long period of time to be better and remarkable at what they do.

The best gift you can share with your audience, no matter how small is your authentic self. Your imperfection is the source of your character and creative powers. It’s who you are, the best parts, not perfect, not trying — just yourself. And you should be proud and bold enough to express yourself without fear of failure or being criticised.

“Give me more time to explore my interest.”“I like having a choice of what I get to do.”“I like when it’s challenging, but not to the point where I would want to give up.”“I like staying at my own pace and being able to go ahead, or stay a little behind.”

Working collaboratively with teachers in planning and designing this PD workshop allowed us to leverage the collective wisdom of all our teachers.

​Using modern messaging apps, a unified interface to work becomes possible, where conversations and applications come together in one place. Group messaging replaces email for projects, initiatives and team collaboration. Workflow and actions take place within the conversation, using intelligent bots. - Reminds me of MSTeams

For one, the future of education is changing as people live longer and as fast moving technology continuously creates entirely new fields and makes older ones obsolete.

Today’s learner is looking for continuous education and for credentials that go beyond the traditional bachelor’s and master’s degree. And, in many cases, those traditional programs and degrees are not viable options for today's learners.

Twenty-one percent of millennials say they've changed jobs within the past year, which is more than three times the number of non-millennials who report the same.

Surface Pro I currently use a Surface Pro 4 for my primary device. I love it for the portability, battery life, and power. One negative is the keyboard. Today at CES, this was shown. It has some promise

As you can see, it is the only keyboard that removes the need for the kickstand.

Website One of the topics of change for OPS will be finding a solution for our website. It really has to be a focus of a communication system. With that in mind, I read this article this morning that is thoughtful about the approach.

As the digital hub for your business, your website must be able to attract the right prospect, as well as build trust, provide information, offer a guided trial experience, convert, and nurture and do so without friction or confusion.

When a first-time visitor comes to your site your goal is to convince them to come back – that’s a conversion. When they come back your goal is to get them to stay and read some more – that’s a conversion.

And finally, a quote from Simon Sinek:

“What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.” – Simon Sinek

As I have been thinking about creating a blog and expanding my network from consumption to creating and sharing, I wanted to share some articles and notes that have influenced my decision making process. ​

If our own cultural identity and its characteristics are not on our radar, we most likely are not aware that it influences our decisions and practices and might only be one of many perspectives from around the world.

The ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions in terms of learning, will give us the opportunity to compare and contrast them with others.

Interpret

Learning about other cultures and the “way they do things”, supports the understanding of our own practices.

We automatically use our background knowledge to interpret this new way of looking at learning.

Analyze and Synthesize New Knowledge

Learning from documentation in education from around the world allows us to combine different perspectives, activities, resources to expand our own repertoire of pedagogies, techniques and methods as well as learning strategies.

Use and create new knowledge

By learning through documentation about theories, practices and resources from around the world, we find new ways of thinking and new ways of approaching our own problems.

One way of demonstrating global literacy is by exhibiting the disposition to “understand and act creatively and innovatively on issues of global significance.”

Communicate knowledge

Documenting learning helps us formulate and articulate not only WHAT we want others to know about us, but also encourages the documenter to make critical decisions of HOW to communicate our knowledge.

Share knowledge

By sharing across the globe, as opposed to with local classmates or colleagues, we amplify the degree of learning opportunities, remixes and allow others to build upon our knowledge.

The imperative of sharing as an educator and learner is becoming more and more apparent as we want to take advantage of crowd-sourcing and ability of learning from and with the world and not merely about the world.

Understanding that the world is multicultural

As we document our learning from our cultural perspective and perception and make this documentation available for a global audience, we add our piece to a puzzle that paints a picture of not just our corner of the world with its history, values, and point of view, but a picture that has many different puzzle pieces and demonstrates our diverse and multicultural word.

As more and more network communities are sprouting, the more important it becomes for us to be able to understand them in terms of purposes, similarities and differences. (ie social media, blogs, etc)

Crafting your network identity

Our network identity is the one that attracts specific types of followers as we grow our networks to have access to an authentic audience that can provide amplified learning opportunities.

Understanding network intelligence

As we document learning, we need to develop skills to leverage network intelligence for our learning.

We become visible researchers of learning, we are supported by our networks to connect documented experiences of others to our own, We can incorporate information funneled and filtered from many sources for us to use and experiment with on our own.

Understanding network capabilities

In these communities, participants are contributors, not just consumers.

That is how networks work.

If no one were to contribute, the mechanism of any network would not function.

Blogging is a great tool for teaching writing, reading, critical thinking, reflective thinking, respect for opinions, respectful argumentation, and relevance.

It enables students to direct their own learning by interacting and collaborating with others. Students can take ownership of their learning through blogging, a dynamic not available until the 21st Century.